Tag: Oil Price Shocks

As the OPEC oil ministers prepare to meet for their bi-annual Ordinary Meeting on 22 June, they are faced with some difficult choices. On the one hand, by extending the output cutbacks amidst a higher risk of output disruptions, OPEC risks overtightening the oil market and pushing oil prices higher, leading to an inevitable demand […]

OPEC exit strategy has been one of the key uncertainties engulfing the oil market. Most market focus has been on the level of inventories, as this is seen by many as a key indicator as to when OPEC may shift its current output policy. In this presentation, it is argued that the level of inventories, […]

2018 started on a positive note for oil markets with Brent prices breaking through $70 a barrel for a few days and all the key international crude oil benchmarks flipping into backwardation. Yet, there is still a wide uncertainty engulfing the oil market, with very divergent views among market observers about how the oil price […]

From mid-2014 Kuwait has experienced a substantial drop in its oil export price and, consequently, government revenue, causing a severe fiscal deficit and impaired economic performance. Cutting energy subsidies has become a policy priority. In the face of widespread opposition, the government raised gasoline prices in August 2016, proclaiming such reform key to solving its […]

The IMF’s most recent World Economic Outlook (IMF 2007) contains a box entitled “Understanding the Link Between Oil Prices and the World Economy”. In our view the analysis is misleading, and likely to confuse rather than clarify the question of the relationship between demand, supply, oil prices, and the world economy.